


into the woods

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Camping, Drinking, Eating, F/M, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Implied Sexual Content, Nightmares, Older Man/Younger Woman, Resolved Sexual Tension, Romance, Scars, Star-crossed, Unresolved Sexual Tension, phil is a sad sexy baby deer, watchdogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 09:30:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15216215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: Director Johnson and Agent Coulson car camp in the forest to escape Watchdogs. Written for HappyPhilDay3.0.





	into the woods

"Don't worry, I've done this before. I'll show you the ropes."

When he doesn't answer, she opens the back of the SUV and then the side doors, and starts to flip the seats down.

"I know how to do this," he tells her, lifting the bags back into the SUV and starting to unzip them while she rearranges things. "I'm just not sure why we couldn't have evaded the Watchdogs at the local motel."

"The town is super Watchdog-friendly," she reminds him. "And besides, I didn't want to risk us getting separated."

"You wanted me all to yourself?" he asks with a smirk, and takes out the wool emergency blanket, rubs his fingers over the scratchy material.

She doesn't answer him, just starts to shut the doors. She knows he can take care of himself, but she's Director now, and losing people takes on a different kind of meaning.

The only reason they didn't call for an extraction is they didn't want the media to make it seem like SHIELD was invading a small town.

Which just happens to be a training camp for xenophobes, but that's not the kind of coverage you get from the media.

He looks up at the woods around them, at the sky that is starting to change color vividly as the sun goes down. It's kind of nice. Almost romantic.

If you weren't stuck in the middle of the woods with your boss hoping that armed militants didn't manage to track you down on their home turf.

"More of a glamper myself," he says to her, as she joins him at the rear again.

"Don't like roughing it, huh?" she teases him. "Do you know how to start a fire? A small one."

"Who got us up here the old-fashioned way?" he asks her, patting the paper map in his jacket pocket.

"Why do you think I asked you about the fire?" she smirks. "Do you rub two sticks together, or, is it more sophist-"

"We have a lighter," he replies sarcastically, after reaching into the bag to take out a box of emergency supplies.

"I bought the real emergency supplies," she tells him, and finds the plastic gas station store bag, and opens it so he can see inside.

"Cup 'O Noodles," he lists off. "Instant coffee. And powdered donuts. Okay," he nods. "You're an angel."

That makes her chuckle a little, and he smiles while she glances up at the sky getting darker, then stares off into the woods.

"I'm just going to check the perimeter," she tells him. "You want to work on the fire?"

"I thought we weren't supposed to get separated," he says to her.

It's not really rational, just something about the woods at night, and maybe watching too many horror movies as a kid.

Maybe something else. There's always that thought, the one he pushes aside.

"I'll be fine," she reassures him, putting a hand on his shoulder. She does that a lot lately.

He watches her walk off into the trees and he takes a flashlight with him and starts to look nearby for dry leaves and brush.

  
###

  
Daisy isn't back yet - it's still Daisy in his head, Director Johnson on his lips- and a breeze winds its way past the makings of his small fire.

There's moisture in it, and he looks up at the night sky starting to turn cloudy.

He knows he shouldn't worry, Director Johnson makes the Watchdogs quake in their boots. It's just a habit of him worrying.

Sometimes he wonders if it embarrasses her even more now that she's Director. He's tried not to do it in front of other agents.

She's never complained about it or said anything, but it feels like sometimes she gives him a pitying stare when he's done it.

"Okay," he tells himself. "She's fine. But, I'm just going to get more brush off in the trees in the direction she went."

He takes the flashlight with him and starts to head into the trees, trying to not make much noise, when he hears a snapping sound.

Turning the flashlight off, he crouches lower, moving behind a tree, and sees movement where there is still some moonlight left pouring between the trees.

It's a deer, standing in the open, and he knows it can sense that he's there. It's paused, waiting, like if it's still enough-

"Couls-"

He practically jumps out of his skin when Daisy's hand touches his shoulder before he hears her speak.

"Sorry," she says, having dropped the pile of twigs in her hands. "I was just trying to get wood for-"

He breathes out and turns back towards the thicket, which is empty now.

"Your deer is gone," Daisy says sadly, then bends to start picking all the sticks back up.

Turning on the flashlight, he bends down to help her gather them up. "I wasn't worried about you, I was just-"

"Lonely?" she asks him, and he trains the flashlight on her face for a moment.

He can't tell if she's teasing him exactly or being serious when he feels a drop of wet on his cheek.

"I was going to say," he tells her, moving more quickly. "I think it's going to rain."

When it starts to not only rain but pour, they give up on carrying anything and run back towards the SUV.

Daisy reaches into her wet field suit and grabs the keys out and pops the rear open and runs towards it.

The fire is already out, but Coulson turns back and looks at the metal bottle that he'd propped up in the fire.

He runs back and slides his jacket down to cover his fingers and then pulls it out of the fire, and dashes to the car.

"Ouch," he says, setting it safely away from Daisy against the side of the SUV out of the rain. "It's still hot."

The jacket feels heavy from the rainwater, and he slips it off his body and shakes it out, frowning.

"I really liked that one," he complains and glances up to check on Daisy to see her watching him with a curious expression.

Her hair is sticking to the sides of her face, and the front of her field suit is already unzipped like she was removing it when he interrupted her.

For a moment, he feels like that deer back in the woods, staying still for as long as he can, his shirt sticking to him from the rain now.

He watches the water droplets fall from the ends of her hair onto her exposed collarbone, and swallows. Blinks.

"You're soaked," she announces, and then carefully starts untying her boot.

Quickly, he undoes the buttons on his shirt.

  
###

  
Once they've both ignored the awkwardness of hanging out in their underwear together, he gets busy.

It's just a mission. Like any other. He was supposed to get the fire going, and now he has to course correct.

He sets up a little pile of all the food and opens each cup of noodles and pours the warm water into them.

"It'll probably take awhile, since it's not so hot," Daisy tells him, unwrapping a pack of donuts. "Dessert before dinner?"

"Why not?" he says, and reaches for a donut as she leans back in the open space, propped on an elbow.

Her long legs stretched down the length of the back of the SUV. Just a mission.

"Hopefully we don't get ambushed like this," she says. "We'd never live it down. Just imagine the media-"

"If I'm going to die in my underwear," he chimes in. "I'd definitely like for it to not be at the hands of domestic terrorists."

"That would be a shame," she says to him, lifting up the pack of donuts towards him again.

He plants his tongue against the side of his teeth and narrows his eyes a little at her poker face as he takes another donut.

"Do you like the chocolate ones or powdered sugar more?" she asks him, watching him eat it.

"Depends on my mood," he tells her and peeks back into the noodle cups. "Chicken or beef?"

"I got one of each, I thought I'd let you pick first," she answers him, and she reaches out for the wool blanket and spreads it over her legs.

"Or we could share," he tells her, lifting out a noodle with his fingers, to see if it's still hard and crunchy, and drops it into his mouth, circling his tongue around to keep it from slipping out.

"I'-I'm definitely good with sharing," she says back to him, shifting her legs to bring her knees in closer to her. "Want in? You look cold."

She lifts the corner of the blanket towards him and he is cold. He's been colder, although not quite so damp.

"Uh. Yeah. Sure," he says amiably, and hands up the cup noodles to her one-by-one then shifts so he can slide up next to her and stretch his legs out.

Daisy explains to him how you don't have to use your fingers, you just slurp the noodles out of the container, and how there are all kinds of ways to make them taste better.

They wait and talk until the noodles are ready, then it gets noisy in the cab for a minute as they eat them together.

She's obviously a pro at this, while he manages to drip some of the soup onto his t-shirt, and wipes his fingers against the spot.

"Hey, let's trade before all of that ends up on your t-shirt."

"Easy," he tells her and hands his soup over to her, and takes her cup. "Did you eat a lot of this when you were on your own?"

"Well, you never told me the secret ingredient for your grilled cheese, so- A girl's gotta eat."

She keeps eating while he mulls it over.

"Who knew that all of this time, I had all the leverage I ever needed?" he teases her, and watches her finish up the noodles.

"So, what is it?" she asks him with a raise of her eyebrow, setting the empty container down. "Should I make it an order?"

"You can try," he says, lifting his own eyebrows as he stares back at her over the edge of the cup.

"I order you," she tells him, very slowly.

He slurps down the last of his food, then leans towards her slowly, putting his lips up against her ear, as she wiggles with a shiver.

"Nice try."

  
###

  
He waits until she's asleep, still shifting next to him on the hard surface of the cab.

Wondering if it's discomfort, or if she's troubled by a nightmare like the one he just woke from.

It's the same deer in the forest earlier, but Daisy is watching it, instead of him, her eyes wide as she moves in closer with her hand extended.

Watchdogs appear between the trees, and Daisy yells for him to run. But he's paralyzed standing still.

Trying to not be seen, even though he's being watched.

The t-shirt is cold against his body now, and he wants to get rid of it, along with his hang-ups about his scar.

As if that is his only hang-up.

"You're awake, too," he hears her say quietly. "I move around a lot, I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he replies to her with a sigh and rubs a hand over his face. "I probably woke you, I had a nightmare."

He can hear her stir in the dark and she sits up beside him and puts her hand on his shoulder again.

Every time she does it, it feels more intimate than any touch he's shared with another person in years.

This time he sighs aloud. Maybe it's just because he's tired.

Maybe it's something else that he can't put away, with Daisy the warmest thing next to him.

"You're cold," she tells him, her voice heavy with sleep and kindness, then she hesitates. "I won't look in the morning if you feel uncomfortable, okay?"

The problem is, he wants her to look closer. He wishes that he could find the right words to ask.

Instead, he lifts the cold t-shirt over his head and pulls it off, then lays it flat to the side and pulls the scratchy blanket back up over his shoulder.

He settles in beside her, and it's impossible for them not to touch, but he turns on his side to not crowd her.

"It's why you're here with me," she tells him.

Then he reaches between them, and he knows that his hand isn't trembling because of the cold as he finds her fingers.

Raising her hand, he touches her fingers against his scar over his heart.

She doesn't say anything in reply, but she traces along it, then presses her hand flat against that place on his chest, until he's on his back.

And her breath feels warm against his cheek, then against his lips, a hesitation between them while she hovers just above him.

He raises his head to kiss her first, then pulls her in close against him, letting her kiss him back, covering himself in her warmth.

Chasing after her, again.

  
###

  
His back is really tight when he wakes, but he'll live. He makes himself turn over to stretch it and Daisy isn't there.

Attaching his prosthetic, he sits up and looks out the windows, and can see she's already up, dressed in her field suit, in front of a small fire outside the SUV.

The sun is just peeking out between the trees, and he wraps the blanket around his middle and then gets out of one of the side doors.

Their eyes meet when she looks up at the sound of the door closing and sees him standing there.

"Good morning," she says, amused, her eyes on the blanket. "I was making the coffee."

She's laid out his wet clothes nearby to dry them, and she stands up and walks closer to him, holding the metal container and fishes out the keys to pop the back of the SUV open.

Unscrewing the top, she hands it to him as they sit inside the back of the SUV and he takes a sip of the hot instant coffee.

"I got a hold of Mack on the SAT phone and I have the extraction location," she explains, taking the coffee from him to drink.

"I kind of like it up here," he says, reaching back behind him to grab the chocolate donuts out of the bag. "I like you showing me the ropes."

He holds out the donuts to her, and she opens the pack, taking one out, biting into it, then holding the rest up to his mouth.

She puts a hand on his knee as he finishes eating the donut, leaning her head against his shoulder.

His arm wraps around her as they watch the sun come up together.


End file.
